THE SUMMER DUCK. 209 
snug, unsuspicious looking hole in some old tree near 
the water edge, where, if unmolested, she will breed 
many years in succession, carrying down her young 
when ready to fly, in her bill, and placing them in the 
water. ‘The drake is very attentive to the female while 
she is laying, and yet more so while she is engaged in 
the duties of incubation ; constantly wheeling about on 
the wing among the branches, near the nest on which 
she is sitting, and greeting her with a little undertoned 
murmur of affection, or perching on a bough of the same 
tree, as if to keep watch over her. 
The following account of their habits is so true, and 
the anecdote illustrating them so pretty and pleasing, 
that I cannot refrain from quoting it, for the benefit of 
those of my readers who may not be so fortunate as to 
have cultivated a familiar friendship with the pages of 
that eloquent pioneer of the natural history of the woods 
and wilds and waters of America, the Scottish Wilson, 
who has done more for that science than any dead or liv- 
ing man, with the sole exception of his immortal suc- 
cessor, the great and good Audubon; and whose works 
will stand side by side with his, so long as truthfulness 
of details, correctness of classification, eloquence of 
style, and a pure taste and love for rural sounds and 
sights shall command a willing audience. Speaking of 
this bird he says— 
“Tt is familiarly known in every quarter of the United 
States, from Florida to Lake Ontario, in the neighbor- 
